How I Accidentally Graduated College at 68 Years Old
I never meant to wait that long. Someone recently asked me, “How long have you…
How I Accidentally Graduated College at 68 Years Old
I never meant to wait that long. Someone recently asked me, “How long have you been working on your degree?” I responded, “Fifty years!” Laughter ensued. Yet, I had graduated high school in 1974. I took my first college course in 1988 when my first son was three months old while I was still on…
A Fond Farewell to Route 66 Mother Road Museum
Route 66 has lost another gem. On July 23, 2024, the Route 66 Mother Road Museum in Barstow, California, announced on their Facebook page they were closing. The museum’s webpage says that they are “closed indefinitely,” stating water repairs in another part of the building were being taken care of by the city. Route 66…
Cattle Drives of the I S Ranch: Mountains to Desert
Note: We gave a presentation about this subject on September 14, 2023, to the Big Bear Historical Society. This article is the culmination of a month’s long research project. We also debuted a video, which we plan to upload to our YouTube channel. Our warmest thanks goes to historians Anne Roark, Jonni Vindiola, Mark Durban,…
Salvation Mountain: Death and Redemption Near the Salton Sea
We visited Salvation Mountain for the first time with my sister, Dawn, when she recently flew in from the East Coast. We recalled watching television host Huell Howser visit there in 1997 and were intrigued. Salvation Mountain had again recently landed itself into the news media. So a mere 26 years later, we decided to…
How Bill Keys Was Freed by the Court of Last Resort
In the midst of the Roaring Twenties, a stout young man was a Ventura, California, attorney by trade. Although he immersed himself in juris prudence, he found that to make ends meet he needed what millennials nowadays call a “side hustle.” Writing fiction suited the gent’s keen wit, colorful oration and flair for the dramatic,…
Beware of Deserts Bearing Gifts: It Can Be Deadly
Sometimes a desert is like a Trojan horse. Few desert rats disagree that the desert can be a beautiful, magical place. It’s wide open horizons and endless views across miles of sand, cacti, Joshua Trees, boulders and mountains, especially at sunrise and sunset, can be captivating. The allure is reminiscent of a Siren’s song though…
Tarantula: Miners to Movies at Dead Man’s Point
The movie Tarantula featuring the small desert town of Desert Rock, Arizona, and a giant tarantula was actually filmed in Apple Valley, California. Many of the scenes were shot at Dead Man’s Point. It was the fourth biggest film at the box office in December 1955. The movie’s tagline said, “More terrifying than any horror known to…
Zzyzx: More Than a Tongue Twister
Today’s trivia you didn’t know you needed to know: Zyzzyx Road, a low budget indie horror movie from 2006, not to be confused with another 2006 indie horror titled Zzyzx with a different cast and rebranded Burned, is known for being the lowest-grossing film of all time. It made a grand total of (drum roll,…
Big Bear Valley Historical Museum: A Tale of Two Cities
Have you ever wondered if the vastly different cities of Big Bear City and La Quinta, California, could possibly have anything in common? One is high in the San Bernardino mountains , a few minutes from Big Bear Lake, and the other is near the Santa Rosa mountains in the low desert, approximately an hour’s…
John Grasson: The Desert’s Lost Treasure
Some of you might have heard that we lost a good friend on December 21, 2021. John Grasson was a friend and colleague in the study of the Southwest deserts, a fellow Army veteran, a radio personality, a go-to source for information on the legendary “Lost Ship of the Desert,” a fellow desert rat, and…
